Florida LEO dead after ND by fellow officer

[Eurodriver]

http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/4/7/ocala_officer_killed.html


Officer Jared Forsyth was hit around 3 p.m. after a semi-annual training session at Lowell Correctional Institution, 11120 NW Gainesville Road.

Police said it happened as another officer was unloading his .40-caliber Glock. The bullet ricocheted off a bench and entered the 33-year-old’s arm and chest, missing Forsyth's bulletproof vest.


Tragedy, no doubt. But the real issue is the "Things happen" mentality the FDLE and Chief seem to have. Wonder what would happen to me if my CCW ND'd and killed one of his boys? :bad:


“It would be premature for me to say that we’ve done anything wrong necessarily but believe me, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again," said Graham.

"The weapon that killed Forsyth was the same officers carry each day. Unloading and securing weapons before cleaning was standard procedure, Scroble said.

[C-grunt]

Nothing says the officer won't be charged. It days the incident is being investigated.

[El Vaquero]

Whereas I respect the chief for not wanting to throw his officer under the bus for just killing a fellow officer, it's hard not to envision that something totally went wrong. As in not following the basic rules of unloading and loading in a safe direction.

[26 Inf]

Not being dismissive of the incident. But, I think a lot of us forget or don't understand, that most police officers are not gunslingers. Most cops are probably more enthused about giving blood than going to firearms training. Range rules and procedures have to be written and enforced to that level. I'd guess maybe they weren't.

There is no reason for a loaded weapon to be unloaded in an area where other shooters are cleaning weapons, it should have been unloaded elsewhere before entry into the cleaning area. To me, my first response would be to exam and evaluate the safety rules and make sure they haven't morphed into 'we're all big boys, no need for that silly stuff.' That must never happen, especially when working with the masses.

This incident ruined the life of the slain officer's family, my prayers go out to them; it has also ruined, or will ruin, the life of the officer who shot him, my prayers also go out to him.

I'd be willing to bet this incident is symptomatic of lackadaisical enforcement of basic safety rules.

JMO

[Eurodriver]

Nothing says the officer won't be charged. It days the incident is being investigated.

That wasn't my point. It was the blasé attitude the Chief and others seem to have regarding this incident. He promises that this will never happen again, but in the same breath says no one did anything wrong.

[C-grunt]

That wasn't my point. It was the blasé attitude the Chief and others seem to have regarding this incident. He promises that this will never happen again, but in the same breath says no one did anything wrong.

That may be so. However we are reading third party printed word. What exactly was said and how it was said might not have been accurately translated.

[SteyrAUG]

http://powellsafetysolutions.com/s/cc_images/cache_3998233304.jpg?t=1369916525

If you are in an environment where weapons are regularly loaded or unloaded near other people, you need something like this. There is no reason why "things should happen."

[Dienekes]

I went to considerable trouble to have a good clearing barrel made for my office. Zero interest in actually using it, and management didn't care. I guess a needless LE funeral now and then is acceptable.

[Mauser KAR98K]

Not being dismissive of the incident. But, I think a lot of us forget or don't understand, that most police officers are not gunslingers. Most cops are probably more enthused about giving blood than going to firearms training. Range rules and procedures have to be written and enforced to that level. I'd guess maybe they weren't.

There is no reason for a loaded weapon to be unloaded in an area where other shooters are cleaning weapons, it should have been unloaded elsewhere before entry into the cleaning area. To me, my first response would be to exam and evaluate the safety rules and make sure they haven't morphed into 'we're all big boys, no need for that silly stuff.' That must never happen, especially when working with the masses.

This incident ruined the life of the slain officer's family, my prayers go out to them; it has also ruined, or will ruin, the life of the officer who shot him, my prayers also go out to him.

I'd be willing to bet this incident is symptomatic of lackadaisical enforcement of basic safety rules.

JMO

I was at Costa's HET1 course over the weekend, and he mentioned that doing a class for LE can be like herding cats.

[C-grunt]

I'd say my department has a higher than normal amount of gun nuts and even then the amount of officers that don't shoot besides what is physically required is at least 50 percent. I know cops who only own their duty gun and leave it in their locker when they get off duty. I know an officer who hadn't cleaned their gun in 3 years and had forgot how to disassemble her Glock.

Though most are not shooters by any means I have only known one to be anti gun and he was a German immigrant.

[SeriousStudent]

My thoughts and prayers are with Officer's Forsyth's family and friends.

[T2C]

The officer who fired the ND must be devastated by the incident.

I have some personal insight pertaining to this type of incident, because I trained and assisted in training hundreds of LEO's during the last 15 years of my career. I have been on the range a few times when someone fired a ND and injured themselves. Thank God no one died. I am certain a thorough investigation will be conducted and the State's Attorney will review the case, it is standard protocol.

Fair winds and following seas to Officer Forsyth, his family and friends.

[SteyrAUG]

I went to considerable trouble to have a good clearing barrel made for my office. Zero interest in actually using it, and management didn't care. I guess a needless LE funeral now and then is acceptable.

At least you'll know you tried if it happens.

[T2C]

I went to considerable trouble to have a good clearing barrel made for my office. Zero interest in actually using it, and management didn't care. I guess a needless LE funeral now and then is acceptable.

I made a recommendation to have a clearing barrel available outside the range building where I worked. The idea was met with resistance.

In order to avoid a ND off the range, I had personnel clear their weapons and remove the slides while facing the impact area before leaving the range. This eliminated hearing a round hit the deck when someone cycled their slide inside the cleaning area. Before returning to duty, they walked back to the range and faced the impact area while charging their service pistol. It worked and it did not cost a cent to implement.

Godspeed to Officer Forsyth.

[BIGUGLY]

How sad, and that Officer Forsyth was wearing his vest and it found the opening on the side panel after the ricochet. On the day that happened My crew was on the range doing our weapon malfunction drills, handgun qualifications and low light rifle training. Our Sgt was getting preachy some thought about constantly watching where you were on the line and muzzle discipline especially when doing the move and shoot drills with thirteen people at the same time. Its sad that his reminder and what some were calling "preachy" has a point and a very good reason for it.

I hope both officers families and the responsible officer can eventually fine some sort of peace, I know if I was responsible for that I'm not sure how you could handle it. I know when we show up to the range we all get there at different times due to the driving distances involved and you unload all duty ammo and come with open actions and no mags inserted in any weapon.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Was just out with my 10 year old son this weekend and I was really proud of internalization of The Rules. He doesn't just have them memorized, he can verbalize them in his own words and explanations. I explained to him that they are like windows and for a bad thing to happen its like shooting an arrow through a house and having to go the open windows to hit the target. You need those layers so if one thing fails, you have at least two more reasons not to get shot.

With a ricochet, that just shows how one of those windows can align when you actually thought it wasn't open.

Thoughts and prayers for that organization.

[davidjinks]

So how do you beat this? Meaning, how do you prevent these types of incidents within LE? Of course not just LE but as a gun owning group as a whole.

Wasn't there a shooting not too long ago, in a classroom training environment, where an officer discharged his duty weapon and killed another officer? I cannot remember if it was in Maryland or Virginia.

[NCPatrolAR]

I didn't read the statement to say that no one did anything wrong, but that the agency didn't do anything wrong from a policy/training perspective

[El Vaquero]

I didn't read the statement to say that no one did anything wrong, but that the agency didn't do anything wrong from a policy/training perspective

No doubt the burden of wrongdoing by way of policy/training will be determined by a jury in the impending civil lawsuit I'm sure the victims family will file. Let's hope that agencies policies are squared away and it was just a one off type occurrence. Freak accidents do occur. Heck I worked a ND of one of our officers who shot himself in the arm in our own parking lot. Thankfully he didn't kill himself by accident because nobody was in the parking lot at that moment to witness anything😳